Return to Switzerland - 1949

Theresa and her daughter, Daphne traveled to the United States in 1948-49 where they stayed for 6 months then traveled on to Switzerland for three months in 1949. This is the letter Theresa wrote to her family describing their trip and observations of life in Switzerland. I have typed the handwritten letter as faithfully as possible to present what Theresa wrote. There are likely some misspellings, especially of phrases written in German. Over time I will have the letter read by others to verify the accuracy of my transcription. My thanks to Daphne Dempsey for providing this letter for publishing on this website.

My notes at the end of the letter give some perspective to locations described in the letter.

                                                                                                          Bern July 29th 1949

My Dear Family,

At last we have been to St. Gallen.  My niece, Wally Früh-Rudener came to meet us.  I was quite wrong, I thought, from what Walda told me, that Wally Früh (Rudener is her maiden name and in Switzerland the maiden name is always added to that of her husbands by a hyphen:= but Wally is our Dads sisters grand daughter.  Mary would have known her well, Aunt-Walburgas’ grand daughter therefore she is my second cousin.  Alfred, the husband of Wally, she is 54 years old.  Ruth her daughter 20 also came to the train.  They have a son, too, he is 22 years old.  A very nice boy (it’s considered very impolite to call a young man a boy) he is thin, tall and very fair has ash blonde hair, almost.  Ruth is dark like her Mother.  The boy, Rolph takes after his father.  So that’s the Früh family.  Before we got to their place, after we had settled in the hotel, we walked to their house or flat, we met a tiny woman Wally introduced us to her, Christine Schmidt, she said she knew remembered us, they lived across from Aunt Walburga “auf der Russe.  She said Julia once came to her house, and kid like, looked all round the room and said: Mir sind halt reich, mir hand e china”.  She remembered it.  We had a nice supper with the Frühs, they live about four floors up.  On the first floor there is a sign that says: “Geflgst Schuhe renugen” (please clean your shoes).  You see signs like that in many places.  Also it isn’t polite to come into the house with the out door shoes on, at least here it isn’t.  We spent a pleasant evening and as we were very tired we went to our hotel. 

Not many people here can take in two visitors, only Lena my sister in law.  Next day after dinner we took a bus out to Bruggen.  I recognized the town right away.  There is a new Church where the old one was though.  There is a high long bridge a new one for pedestrians and vehicles, we didn’t cross the Sitter on the new bridge, we thought we would do that on the way back.  There are four bridges altogether, the others are

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Railway ones, the Appencell train goes over one of these then through a tunnel that comes out on our old “Rah”.  We walked along and I could recognize the old houses.  Wally knew what they all were I remembered the one on the left.  There was a boy there who had lost his eye sight.  Dad took me to his house before we left to say goodbye.  I was too shy to say anything.  The poor boy cried.  I can’t remember his name.  Here Wally said was “d Chräzera” I remembered where the road turned up the steep hill, there is a new gradient now.  I re. the old Hof.  It was on that road that some boys from school passed me when I had a carbuncle on the side of my face. The “blighters” bumped me with their school cases.  That night the carb. broke.  We passed the Hof.  It looked just the same.  I remember when we used to buy the butter served to us on a “schmalz blacca”.  It started to rain, a woman said to take shelter but Wally thought we should go on and we crossed the railway bridge.  I remembered running across it dragging a piece of pipe with a wire through it to make a noise.  I thought it capital then.  We walked on the old track I could see uncle Robert’s house and the others at Gübsen.  There was a patch, square, that might have been where the old cesspool had been.  It was greener there.  You know one of Schirmers fell in one Sunday and the bigger boy called out “und er het no d’suntig hose a.” He was pulled out, he didn’t drown.  Mrs. Schirmer was a widow she used to board little babies whos Mothers had to work.  I could remember where Brüggers house was.  Wally thinks it was built out, into a Wirtschaft.  That’s where the Gübsen See begins.  It was raining cats and dogs and we were sopping wet when we turned in there.  We had a cup of coffee and waited for quite a while for the rain to stop but it didn’t.  Then the woman of the place loaned us two umbrellas so we walked along the shore of the Gubsensee, there are lovely trees and Hazelnut bushes growing all along and there are some swans in the water also lots of wild duck.  They told us that when the water was low lately

Pages 3 and 4 are missing

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but it was a fine meal, we had breaded veal cutlets with browned potatoes and green peas, salad of tomatoes and lettuce with a lovely dressing, after we had fruit salad and coffee with biscuits I forgot the name of them.  So it was quite late when we finally left for “home”.  Daphne was highly amused with the names on the different business places.  So many ‘rei’s’ there would be a Wursterei, Meggerei, Schremerei, Koutitorei, Molkerei, Drechslerei, Kutlerei and a Schühsolerei.  This we tho’t extremely funny we laughed and laughed and as it was a little chilly I got into difficulties which you can imagine.  We, D & J, stayed in a Hostel  Christian sort of place.  We had a nice sort of room with running water it was nice but nothing elaborate, the meals were plain but they cost a terrible lot.  They are awful here, the way they charge and if you are not onto their ways you have to pay thru the nose.  It cost us far more for the Hotel than for the fare to and from St. Gallen by train from here.  Of course, nearly everybody travels 3rd class.  We met Lina and Odette at Rapperswil and from there (I must not go so fast) we met all the Jaeger clan.  They all came to have a day with us.  There were Erhard and Frieda from Zurick, Emil and Lizzi from Basel, Ernst & Margrit from Taun-Ruti, Lindai and her husband from Hunwil, (I have forgotten his name already.  We went to a Restaurant and had a fine meal and as I said before it costs like the devil.  They paid for everything but you don’t only pay for the meal, bread and tea or coffee cost extra and you don’t get water to drink you are expected to buy wine or beer or at least mineral water.  I always had that as any alcohol goes to my head.  There was much salad Oh we had fish, they were very good served with real mayonnaise dressing and there was sliced ham, the bacon too, (that is always eaten raw here) there were ½ dozen different kinds of sausage too.  After a while it stopped raining so we hired a boat and went up the Zurcher See the upper Zurcher See. 

It was beautiful on the water.  First though, we had lost Emil.  He was a very jolly chap.  When we had finally found him

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and then gone on the See, there were of course lots of small boats all over the place and people in swimming, we saw a few paddlers too.  But up till then there was no singing of “schifli fahred hi wher”.  I didn’t like to start myself. (Oh I nearly forgot Oscar, he is Gus eldest bro. Erhard the youngest) He has two boys, the eldest had some miss-handling at birth and is lame and can’t speak very plainly but the younger is strong and fine.  Any way it became supper time again and the meal had been ordered ahead, so we were very cordially greeted by the host and were given a table by ourselves.  We were 20.  This is where we had the fresh fish.  Gee it was a good meal.  Then Emil and Lizzi found they had to go by train or they couldn’t get back to Basel till morning. (they had a beaut. big dog) So they left in a hurry and we heard later that Lizzi had lost a costly cameo broach when running for the train.  They have no children and they have a coffee and tea shop, they ship coffee to many parts of Europe.  Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Norway etc.  They invited us to come and stay in Basel before leaving Switzer-  Also another of Lizzi hasn’t found her broach and I’m afraid she won’t either.  We had some singing on the boat going back and the sinking sun made lovely coloring on the water.  I told the folks that now they really showed themselves as the Swiss I had known.  No doubt Walda would have made the trip much gayer had she been with us, Oscar has a fine basso voice Erhard tenor, Margrit a fine alto.  The boys joined in the singing also Odette, even Daphne, at least I could just see her lips moving.  So the day came to an end and it had been very good.  They all went home their various ways.  We called at dawn at Ernst and Margrits place.  He is a very nice chap.  He would like to come to Australia but his wife doesn’t want to come.  He is a turner but he sets up the machinery for the others where he works.  They have a nice little girl she has two wonderful dolls most human looking one has lovely brown eyes.

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So next day Lina, Odette, Daphne & I went to Einsiedeln.  You will, no doubt, remember that Mother used to go there, at least I remember her going once to pilgrimage, I think it was called.  It’s the place to go to pray.  We didn’t do so but it is the most wonderful cathedral I ever saw in my life.  The ceiling is all done out in gorgeous paintings of angels, etc really extravagant as it could only be done in those days hundreds of years ago.  The church owns acres and acres of the finest land in the district.  They have not only churches but a nunnery, priests and nuns are every where they have fine factories work shops where they make everything they need, also the(y) have a fine lot of cattle and horses.  We looked inside the cathedral first then we walked around and saw the horses, we didn’t see the cows or only few.  I guess they would be up in the Alps this time of year.  Then we went for 20 min. walk to a little “See” made like the Gubsen See we rested awhile there and cooled off, it was hot but lovely and such scenery simply glorious.  Then we walked back another way and went into the Panorama.  I had no idea what this was till we saw it was a dome like structure. We went in, they charged a Fr1 for each person there we had to go up a longish stairs.  We saw the later end of Jesus life and crucifiction portrayed in a most realistic fashion.  It was like being out of doors.  The sky was beautifully painted.  It was said it took three men, an American a german I forget the other mans nationality, eight years to paint all this.  It showed the Palaces of the rich, Rontius Pilate etc, showed the apostles, three friends, Mary Magdelena, Christ and the two thieves on the crosses.  It is not lovely to see these things but the work was really wonderful, it showed even the tree that Judas went out to hang himself (gee how I wish I had a tipe writer you will, too, before you finish reading all this) The camels the donkeys all was most real you’d swear they were figures but the girl who demonstrated in the proper german said it was all only painted.

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Odette had a field glass.  We all looked through it at the realistic scene before us.  When you go to Einsiedeln as a protestant, (I don’t suppose it affects the Catholic this way) you are struck with the comercial value of all this.  The many crucifixes of the poor figure of Christ on sale everywhere, hanging on road side even, in the restaurants’ on the walls.  Where we had our lunch there was the figure of Christ with the bleeding side on one side of the dining room and on the other a huge oil painting of the Pope.  just in front of it some people playing cards.  It all looked so out of place.  In all the shops there are crucifixes and figures of Mother Mary and angels on sale, rosaries and prayer books of all kinds, the rosaries made of silver and gold with jewelled beads etc, etc. all on sale like bur rabbit or any other toy or carigature.  I remembered what Frank used to say – the chaps who sold these things at stalls – “Chaüfid hergotli biera bäumigi, gäi wie der teufi”. 

And the streets are all paved with cobble stones, they are in all the old places in Switzerland.  They last for ever but are rather hard on the feet.  Must be very hard on the horses feet.  You see many horses hitched to old fashioned wagons, also you see men women and children pulling on various kinds of four wheeled wagons, I guess you could call them that.  But the weather was simply grand just lovely sunny days on end.  So, we took the train, electric, good trains these back to Biberbrüke, where we had to change again to go up the Rigi.  Talk about trains, great huge heavy things with I don’t know how many wheels underneath with the big tooth wheel in the middle to fit into the cog.  I was very interested in all this R-R’ding.  We had to pay Fr5 each to go up and back, not to the highest pt. but nearly all the way.  We were sorry we hadn’t gone right up because we walked up after supper but got dreadfully tired we were not shod for such climbing.  But we enjoyed it.  We seemed so high up 18,000 meters our ears went all funny like when you go up in a plane

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and the Hotels they have up there they say they were built before they had the railways.  Great huge buildings they all have a big flood light on at night , no doubt, so they can be picked out at night.  At our hotel we were asked not to take the blanket off the bed to go see the sun rise.  The hostess told us that if the view were good next morning she would call us at ¼ to 4 am to dress and about ½ hr for walking up.  We were not sorry she didn’t call us for we were dead tired.  Lina especially was dead beat.  She hadn’t slept much at all.  In the morning we had breakfast (coffee with hot milk with bread butter and jam) the national breakfast.  You never hear of toast, and you couldn’t possibly make toast of this bread here it is rather hard and full of holes like the Swiss cheese (but we don’t see much of this) any way we do well on what we get.  July you sometimes nearly “bust” trying to put all in, for you just don’t leave food on the plate or platter, you are expected to eat everything.  If there was a slice of bread over we mostly put it into our bag and kept it till we saw some swans.  Its remarkable how quickly they notice it when you throw something into the water.  Not up on the Rigi, of course.  I didn’t hear any yodling up there but I did hear some yulnoov and let out one or two myself just so I could say I had let my voice out a bit.  But all the time since we are in Switzerland there has been a kind of mist.  You can see the mountains only in a faint out line.  One glimse we did get on the train coming home into Interlaken, we could realy see “the Jungfrau”.  All though, excepting a place not far out of Einsiedeln there was a very poor looking district of all old houses but a lovely big church, Catholic of course.  The rest of the journey was of very nice farms and pretty houses and every where whether houses or factories, railway stations, even at sawmills there are always window boxes with beautiful flowers in them generally geraniums.  Oh – I forgot to say we heard the cow bells from the valley below.  One place we saw everyone of the cows wore a bell.  They were

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mostly of the copper, I think, not the round type.  I went into 3 different shops yesterday, to see if I could buy some but in most they had only the cheaper kind.  They call these Trächsla.  They laughed at me trying to say the word.  But the round brass ones are called “bells’ or “Glocken”.  I went into the British Legation yesterday.  I wanted to know had I to have a visa to enter into Austria  The fellow immediately asked could I speak english, of course, I could better than he, so he told me I had to have one and go to another place from where I was.  I don’t know why but in every place we have been these offices are always so scattered.  So next week I am going into Tyrol, Austria to visit the old Aunt.  I met a woman while looking for my train back yesterday.  I asked her where I would catch it, she was very nice and told me I need have no fear, I would get on very well that in the Tyrol, I think is American, she said I’d notice little difference there from Switzerland.  She told me then she was an Austrian herself and the fast train from Zurich would take me right to Landeck, from there it isn’t far to Schoenweis.  Thanks to the goodness of my brothers and sisters in America or else we couldn’t go in there as Fr50 to not reach very far.  Thanks also to Lina, my sister-in-law, or we could not have existed in this pretty little land for more than three weeks.  We have been here 2 months and four days now.  I am not sure yet whether Daphne will come with me to Tyrol. 

I think, I again skipped over a lot of country.  We came over Brünecke that is some of the Bernese Oberland and was it lovely.  The people of Bern are very proud of their country

From Brünecke we came down the steep gradient where they use the cog wheel in the centre of the track.  The scenery is so won der ful all the way into Interlaken and from there we took the little steamer to Thun, It was glorious, there were school children on board and they sang very lustily, also some (Semis?) from the Alps took turn and sang and yodled.  From there we took the train again

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We were soon home after that and very glad to be there too in spite of the fact that the “större” (shutters) are let down at night and we can’t see out.  This made me so home sick when we first came to Bern and, of course, I was really so worn out that all looked lovely to me, for here there are houses all round.  Now comes the struggle to get a passage home to Australia.  We have turned down the offer of passage on the Italian Steamer “Suriento” So I don’t know how we shall fare.  There was only first class accomodation and third.  The first is so high in price, the 3rd I wouldn’t consider (not yet any way). Flying would be scarcely higher than ist on the ship.

I may as well go on now and tell you a bit more of the St Gallen trip.  We seem to have seen such a lot of Churches whever weve been.  There is an old Kloster in St Gallen said to have been founded by St Gallens from Ireland.  I didn’t know that Did you.  Also there is an old library there where they have old bibles from back in 1400 real old things with writings by hand done on skin real fine white kid, I think, they said.  The covers are of pig skin, in wonderful preservation, also music books from away back.  Similar to the Cathedral at Einsiedeln the Church and the library are of wonderful architecture.  The gorgeous ceilings, all the lovely paintings, the walls everything enough to make my son Frank’s mouth water.  The floor, it is all inlaid, everyone has to wear some sort of slippers just over your shoes.  They are afraid the old floor will not hold much longer.  It is interesting to see all these ancient things.  I little dreamed that Switzerland was so Catholic though. 

There was also an old Castle in Rapperswil where the Poles had come to escape from some war or other.  Some of these (I think it was the war of 1918) Poles are still living up there it’s high above the town, I was scared to be up there.  There were complete

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works of Choppins works of music to be seen, heard & also to be bought, also fine hand worked doilies laces of all kinds much too high in price for me to buy any of.  There were old clothes of the Poles on figures, old cloth woven by hand beautiful curtains china, glass ware, hard ware, weapons of all the ages.  Really most interesting, all the great thick walls all round the place.  They grow grapes and fruit along the terraces by the walls.  We went up for a walk on the evening of our arrival there and pretty soon the city band came along and there was a free concert.  There were drinks to be got there too and all sorts of stalls.  We took a seat, imediately a maid in an all over lace “postage stamp” apron came and asked what we would have.  They are always very eager to serve.  You always have to pay the waitress ten per above what you have spent there.  That is so in England too you have to pay so much for your dinner so much for service or so much to the house.  In England they can only charge 6f for a dinner so they put on all the extras that brings it up pretty high.  But the English are not considered good cooks.  Monday is the first of August, that is the Bundestag in Switzer.  I wanted to go to Tyrol on Sat. that tomorrow.  

Lina said you don’t leave your native land on this day.  So I will wait till next week 

One thing I see a lot here – many people dressed exactly alike  I don’t mean those in national dress.  They are lovely, I think. The little girls look very sweet and quaint in them and one can see, they are very proud of them.

Notes:

Daphne has said the trip to the United States took three weeks on the ship Orangi which landed first in Victoria, B.C. then Vancouver, B.C.   During their six months in the U.S. they visited family in Washington state, Wisconsin and New York.  They left Montreal on the Empress of France ship which landed in Liverpool.  From England they took a boat to France and a train to Switzerland.  They stayed in Switzerland for three months at the home of Lina, Frank Jaeger's sister, in Bern.  Frank was Theresa's husband who had died in 1945.  Their return to Tasmania was on the ship Moultan which left from London and took five weeks.   

From this letter I infer that Caspar Albert had a brother named Robert.  He also had a sister who is not named in the letter.  His sister's granddaughter was Wally Früh. 

Mentioned are the villages of Bruggen, Hof and Gübsen plus the Sitter river and the bridges crossing it which show on the map of Straubenzell from 1899.  Zurcher See is now labeled Zürichsee on maps, Hunwil is Hinwil, a town northeast of Rapperswil which is on the Zürichsee.  Tann and Rüti are towns between Rapperswil and Hinwil. 

The cathedral at Einsiedeln can be seen on Google Earth.  The chapel was consecrated in 948 A.D. and the Benedictine Monastery founded in 1130 A.D.  The Sacred Destinations website describes the Catholic Church as the Shrine of Our Lady of Einsiedeln featuring a Black Madonna statue.  The site is an important Pilgrimage and the Diorama and Panorama which Theresa visited still exist. 

Also at Einsiedeln the nearby "See" which Theresa walked to is the Sihlsee.  Leaving Einsiedeln Theresa changed trains at Biberbruke which is now Biberbrugg to go to Mt. Rigi, a very popular destination near Lucern for excellent views of the region.  The cog railway still takes visitors to the hotel and hiking trails on top of the mountain. 

Rapperswil Castle sits on a hill at Rapperswil Harbor and is still the home of a Polish museum.  August 1st is now called Swiss National Day and is celebrated like we celebrate the 4th of July.